Back Home.. For 3 Days..

(Why does this feel so familiar?)

Road Trip Uganda went off without a hitch!

Sunday Ina and I hopped on matatu #1 from Kitale, got on matatu #2 in Kandui, had our passports stamped in Malaba, Kenya, walked across the border, got on matatu #3 in Malaba, Uganda, and made it to Jinja, Uganda by 4pm. We had a great stay with 2 of Ina’s Finnish friends who are working at Jinja’s YWAM base -- ate real Indian food, saw Lake Victoria, hiked out to the Nile and it’s amazing waterfalls, walked through the Jinja markets; Ina managed to find a sauna to relax in during our last night! Oh, Scandinavians…

Uganda felt much more westernized than Kenya; people speak more English and seem friendlier. What surprised me is the massive population of Indians -- at least in Jinja, all the supermarkets and a good percentage of restaurants are run by people from India. Even though Amin booted them all out quite harshly less than 30 years ago, the government has since invited them back, acknowledging what a staple they are to Uganda’s economy. Obviously many of them accepted the invitation, and I for one am glad – having Indian food vs. the Kenyan same old same old was such a nice change.

Tuesday we got on matatu #4 to Busia, walked through the border again, got passports stamped, and got on matatu #5 to Kisumu. Stayed at the nicest hotel in town (for a whopping $10/night), walked down to Lake Victoria, ate at an Italian restaurant (that also served Indian AND Kenyan food), had ice cream for the first time in ages, and wandered through all the markets until getting on matatu #6 back to Kitale. 6 hours of dusty, bumpy, sweaty ride later, we were glad to get home.

Riding in a matatu is one thing I’m not sure I’ll miss once I’m back in the US. More often than not, it involves sharing a mini-van-ish bus with 20+ people, plus a bunch of chickens with their feet tied up, plus everyone’s luggage, hitting pothole after pothole while going somewhere around 120k/h and trying to avoid speeding semis and the other matatus driving maniacally on both sides of the road. Babies are crying, people are arguing with the conductor about fares, random old men are falling sleep on your shoulders. Being tall totally has it’s drawbacks on matatus, because when you hit a bump, your head constantly hits the metal framing on the ceiling. An added bonus on our last leg home yesterday was hitting a bump, cracking my head on the ceiling, AND having a metal screw bust through my seat right into my back. Yowzers.

Some shots:

We Heart Matatus!

Yikes. And Ew.


Obama Koikois!


Ina finally found a Kenyan wearing a shirt from Finland.


View from the matatu window...


Beans at the Uganda market.


The Nile!


Sitting by a Nile waterfall.


Lake Victoria at Sundown.

Walking the home stretch. So dusty and hot..

Now for the goodbyes.. today is the last day visiting the Nema House (where Noise is now in residence!), tomorrow is the last day at Oasis, Saturday will be the last day at HBF, and Sunday I will take my e-ticket to the Kitale airstrip, hand it man working in the office, which is about as big as an outhouse, and get on a tiny plane to Nairobi, to start a 30-hour journey home. Good times.